Market research ROI: how to calculate return before making a strategic decision

To summarize a topic widely discussed in corporate environments, market research ROI is calculated with the formula: [(Generated savings − Research cost) / Research cost] × 100. With Galaxies Synthetic Personas, cost per respondent can fall dramatically while research cycles become faster.

The problem with “market research is a cost”

Answering a frequent question directly: why does market research rarely appear in companies’ return models?

Because it is treated as a marketing expense, not as an investment in risk reduction. When the calculation includes the cost of being wrong — failed launch, campaign without conversion, entry into the wrong market — research ROI is rarely negative.

In many companies, market research lives in the budget under “marketing expenses,” next to events, giveaways, and printed materials. It is a cost that gets cut when budget tightens and rarely appears in investment-return models.

That framing is the first problem. When research is treated as cost, it competes for budget with actions that have visible and immediate return. And it almost always loses.

The reality is different. According to McKinsey Global Institute, data-driven companies are 23 times more likely to acquire customers, 6 times more likely to retain them, and 19 times more likely to be profitable than those operating with less data discipline.

Source: McKinsey Global Institute, The Age of Analytics: Competing in a Data-Driven World.

The challenge is that this calculation is rarely done systematically. Until now.

How do you calculate market research ROI?

The formula is quite simple, but many managers, CMOs, and CEOs confuse it:

ROI (%) = [(Generated savings − Research cost) / Research cost] × 100. “Generated savings” includes avoided cost from failed launches, CAC reduction in campaigns, accelerated time-to-market, and team hours released.

Market research ROI formula

ROI (%) = [(Savings generated by research − Research cost) / Research cost] × 100. Where “Generated savings” = avoided cost of strategic mistakes + CAC reduction + time-to-market acceleration + saved team hours.

Let’s break down each component of the calculation:

Component 1, Avoided cost of a failed launch

What is the average cost of launching a product that fails? Production, distribution, trade marketing, and communication together mean a typical mid-sized company launch commits between R$500,000 and R$5 million before knowing whether the product has acceptance.

A study that costs R$50,000 and prevents a launch with a 60% probability of failing has expected ROI of (R$2.5 million × 60% − R$50,000) / R$50,000 = 2,900%. Even with conservative assumptions, ROI is expressive.

Component 2, CAC reduction in campaigns

When a campaign is validated with Synthetic Personas before going live, the creative reaches the market already optimized. First-month CAC is lower. The learning curve is shorter. Budget works harder.

The Mahta Bio case illustrates this: validation with personas before launch resulted in CAC 35% lower. With a monthly media investment of R$200,000, this represents R$70,000 in additional effective budget per month, without increasing spend.

Component 3, Time-to-market acceleration

Every week of delay in a launch has a cost. The opportunity window closes. Allocated teams continue generating fixed cost. The competitor that launches first captures market share that may not return.

The Bradesco Seguros case showed a launch 10.5 times faster with Synthetic Personas. A process that took 10 months moved to less than 1 month, eliminating the opportunity cost of 9 months of delay.

Component 4, Team hours saved

Galaxies’ ROI Calculator includes the economic value of team time as a component of the calculation. A senior manager with a R$20,000 monthly salary has an hourly cost of about R$125. If Synthetic Personas save 40 team hours per project, that time has measurable financial value.

The calculation in practice: a real example with Galaxies data

So how do you apply the ROI formula to a real market research study?

Based on the Bradesco Seguros case: 600 synthetic respondents cost R$720 (R$1.20 each) versus R$4,500–R$9,000 for equivalent qualitative research. The savings per study were R$3,780 to R$8,280, generating ROI of 525% to 1,150% per project.

How the real calculation works in the platform

Galaxies’ ROI Calculator reads all company interactions on the platform in the selected period. Each type of use — persona chat, synthetic quantitative research, stimulus analysis — is converted into its traditional research equivalent and compared with the platform cost.

Benchmarks by study type, reference table

Benchmarks always begin with the same question: what reference costs should be used to calculate ROI by type of market research?

Three main equivalents: (1) Persona chat = in-depth interviews (R$150–300/interview, 4–8 weeks); (2) Synthetic quantitative research = panel of 600 respondents (R$30k–80k, 6–10 weeks); (3) Stimulus analysis = 2 to 4 creative or concept rounds.

The table above presents average market values by study type.

How does the Galaxies ROI Calculator work?

What is the Galaxies ROI Calculator and what does it show? It is a dashboard inside Nexus: Galaxies Lab that converts platform use into verifiable financial value. It shows total ROI for the period, savings in reais, team hours saved, and benchmark comparisons.

The ROI Calculator is a dashboard inside Nexus: Galaxies Lab that objectively shows how much each company saved in money and time by using the platform instead of traditional methods.

The dashboard includes:

• Total ROI in the period (%): accumulated return since the beginning of platform use.

• Amount saved (R$): avoided cost of equivalent traditional research.

• Time saved (hours): and the economic value of those hours based on team cost.

• Equivalent studies: the traditional research methods each platform use replaces.

• Cost per equivalent respondent: comparison between synthetic use and traditional respondent cost.

• Exportable report: PDF or slide-ready evidence for CFO and budget committees.

The result is a savings statement that turns a “qualitative case” into a “financial case,” exactly the kind of data a CFO or budget approval committee needs to justify and expand platform use.

How should market research ROI be presented to the CFO?

Directly, with three verifiable approaches: (1) comparison with the cost of error; calculate how much a failed launch costs versus the cost of research; (2) speed benchmark; show that data-driven competitors decide faster; (3) financial statement; present platform savings in money and time.

Most managers who work with research intuitively know the investment is worth it. The problem is articulating that value in a way that makes sense to the person who controls the budget.

Three approaches work:

1. Comparison with the cost of error: “A launch that fails costs R$X. The research that avoids that launch costs R$Y. Preventive ROI is (X × probability of failure without research − Y) / Y.”

2. Competitiveness benchmark: “According to McKinsey Global Institute, data-driven companies are 19 times more likely to be profitable.”

3. Savings statement: “Here is the equivalent traditional research cost, the platform cost, and the savings generated in this period.”

Frequently asked questions

How do you calculate market research ROI?

ROI (%) = [(Generated savings − Research cost) / Research cost] × 100. Savings include avoided cost from failed launches, CAC reduction, accelerated time-to-market, and the value of saved team hours. With Galaxies Synthetic Personas, considering R$1.20 per respondent compared with R$300 in traditional research, ROI can exceed 500% in the first study.

What is the average ROI of market research with Synthetic Personas?

Studies run on Galaxies record 93% savings in cost per respondent and launches up to 10.5 times faster, as in the Bradesco Seguros case. Calculated ROI per study ranges from 525% to 1,150%, depending on use type and segment. Galaxies’ ROI Calculator shows cumulative return in real time.

How can investment in market research be justified to the CFO?

Present the ROI calculated by Galaxies’ ROI Calculator: equivalent traditional research cost minus platform cost, divided by platform cost. Complement it with McKinsey Global Institute’s data that data-driven companies are 19 times more likely to be profitable. The report can be exported as PDF or slides.

Research as investment, not expense

The question is not whether your company can afford to invest in market research. The question is whether it can afford to make strategic decisions without data, in a market where data-driven companies systematically outperform competitors.

When ROI is calculated correctly — including the cost of being wrong, not only the cost of researching — research is rarely expensive. What is expensive is the failed launch, the campaign that does not convert, the product that reaches the market with the wrong positioning.

Galaxies’ ROI Calculator exists precisely to make this argument objective and verifiable. Not a persuasion argument, but data with number, period, and traceable methodology.

Use the Galaxies ROI Calculator and see how much you would save